Battle of Hastings
At the Battle of Hastings, fought this day in 1066, King Harold II of England was defeated by the invading army of William, duke of Normandy, in the Norman Conquest, establishing Normans as rulers of England. 1066.
The reality TV series Keeping Up with the Kardashians premiered; the show’s huge popularity helped make various family members major celebrities, notably Kim Kardashian. 2007.
Naguib Mahfouz, the 82-year-old novelist and 1988 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, was stabbed by Islamic militants in Cairo but survived. 1994.
Baptist minister and social activist Martin Luther King, Jr., was named the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, cited for his work involving civil rights and social justice. 1964.
American test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier. 1947.
German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox,” ended his life by drinking poison following the discovery of his connection to a conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler. 1944.
During the Spanish Civil War, the first group of 500 trainees for the International Brigades arrived in Albacete, Spain. 1936.
English humorist A.A. Milne published Winnie-the-Pooh, a children’s book featuring the adventures of a honey-loving bear and his friends, including Eeyore and Piglet. 1926.
The Chicago Cubs beat the Detroit Tigers to win the team’s second World Series championship; they did not claim their third title until 2016. 1908.
French troops under Napoleon smashed the outdated Prussian army led by Charles William Ferdinand at the Battle of Jena. 1806.
